Misperception
by The Final Conduit
Summary: For Budo, his life was fairly carefree once his Martial Arts Club had started up, at least compared to before his friend's encounter with that one delinquent. Though he had no way of controlling the cause of the events that preceded, the effects were more or less his fault, from his point of view. Problem is, if he'd known the truth, then all suffering could've been averted.
Upon reaching the sight that lay in wait for him, the boy's eyes would widen.

All of his friends, and their respective enemies, lay utterly defeated on the ground, the latter mentioned group's weapons scattered about on the ground.

The only two people who were exempt from this were two girls.

Both had quickened breathing as they stared one another down, the blonde female who stood on her feet wearing a long trench coat, body wrapped in bandages from injuries long past, new ones formed on her body.

Standing before the blonde was a girl with brown hair and eyes, who was struggling to her feet at that present moment, knees shaky as she tried to rise up again.

"How much more will you take before you stay down?" The blonde asked in a rough tone, the girl she scowled at forcing herself to stand upright, the blood of their wounds mixing with the many droplets of rain that the sky released onto their bodies from above.

"I can't let any of you get away with what you've done." Mina said, her voice and expression pained as she said this, her knees still shaking.

The rain hit her wobbly knees repeatedly, and each time would render a soft grunt of pain from eliciting itself from under her throat.

"I didn't do anything wrong! Stop butting into my business!"

"I normally would, but this is an exception."

Seeing her balance shaking even as she said this, Budo felt his legs running towards Mina, him reaching her side in seconds, "Hey, don't force yourself."

His hand had reached around her back by the time he finished talking, him supporting her as she looked up at him.

"Masuta?" She said softly, hope filling her voice ever so slightly.

"It's me." He said softly, nodding to assent this claim. "What happened?"

He looked down at her knees as he asked this, eyes widening at the sight of the blue bruises that adorned Mina's skin.

"We tried fighting, but we weren't strong enough to win." Mina responded, a small, defeated smile tugging at her lips.

He looked down at her knees a moment more, before looking back up at her.

"I'm sorry I wasn't here with you guys." He said, a pained look reaching his eyes.

"You're here now, aren't you?" She replied, before looking back at the blonde standing before them, her smile dropping. "If you want to make it up to us, we'll need you to beat her. You can understand that much, right?"

"But what about you, and the others?"

He gave a look behind himself, eyes flicking between the different members of his club.

They all adorned nasty blue bruises, the blood that spilled from wounds close to the ugly blotches of blue skin being washed up in the heavy rain.

"We'll be fine. None of this will mean anything if you don't act now though." Mina looked at the delinquent before her, whose scowl worsened. "We can't let her get away with what she's done to Ren."

Budo scowled as well, looking up at the delinquent for a moment before nodding, "Alright, got it."

Despite his words, he turned to Mina, crouching down and pushing his free arm under her knees, picking her up in a bridal style.

"Bear with it for a second." Budo said, when Mina gave a soft sound of pain at his hand's placement under her bruised knees.

He sat her down on the edge of the roof, positioning her back against the railing, getting back to his feet and turning to the delinquent before him, eyes serious.

He walked forward, his footsteps making small splashes in the minute puddles the rain made, and he stood opposite the delinquent a second later, her scoffing a bit at him.

"So what, you're taking me on now?"

"No, I'm going to make you pay." Budo said, and she entered a fighting position in sync with him.

Despite the circumstance, Budo wasn't sure which one of their faces reflected more anger, his or hers.

"That right?" She jeered, sneering at him. "I guess you're as thick-headed as those other idiots you sicked onto us."

"I didn't want this to happen. They acted on their own."

"So you won't take responsibility? Some leader you turned out to be."

"I never said I wouldn't take responsibility. But that doesn't change what I have to do first."

"So you're going to kick my ass so you can do your job?"

"No. I'm going to kick your ass so I can get even with you for hurting everyone." Budo's raised fists clenched more tightly as he said this, the thought his friends' hurting bodies making his blood boil.

"Those wusses you call fighters? You can't even call what we did hurting them. Half of them barely put up much of a fight before they went down."

His eyes narrowed, and Budo moved forward, his body moving with the overflowing intent to repay the girl before him the hurt she'd wrought upon those around her.

Even before the first punch was thrown, the smiling face of a girl who hid within the school building gazed at the spectacle before her.

Before this fight had started, before this problem had made itself known, there was her, the spark for it all.

There had simply been Ayano Aishi, pulling the strings for this horrid misunderstanding to ever begin.


End file.
